NASA assigns Deniz Burnham first space station mission in 2027

NASA astronaut Deniz Burnham will make her first spaceflight as a flight engineer on Expedition 76 to the International Space Station, the agency announced on July 30, 2026.

She will launch aboard the Soyuz MS-30 spacecraft with cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov. Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is targeted for March 2027, and the trio are expected to spend about seven months on the orbiting laboratory.

During her stay, Burnham will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for missions to the Moon and Mars and to benefit people on Earth.

She is a former intern at NASA’s Ames Research Center and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and a master’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Southern California. Before joining NASA, she spent more than a decade managing drilling operations on oil rigs across North America. She also serves as an engineering duty officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves and holds a private pilot license with multiple ratings.

Selected as an astronaut in 2021, Burnham graduated from NASA’s training program in 2024. Born at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and raised in a military family, she was living in Wasilla, Alaska, when she was chosen.

The International Space Station has supported continuous human presence for more than 25 years, enabling research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The platform helps NASA overcome challenges of long-duration spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build a foundation for the Artemis program and future Mars missions.